As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the “palmtop” computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can be “palm-sized.” Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer and electronic notepads, to name a few.
While these palm sized computers (“palmtop” computers) have dramatically reduced size when compared to a desktop or notebook computer, the user would like to be able to perform many of the same types of functions performed using physically larger and more powerful computers. Such functions often require substantial amounts of memory and/or circuitry that is not generally incorporated within a palmtop computer. An example of such a function is that of an MP3 music player. It is conceivable to embed such a player within a so-called “sled” device that couples to the palmtop computer. Unfortunately, such devices are taxing on the processing power of a palmtop computer if the music is stored either on the palmtop computer itself or on a storage device associated with the palmtop computer. In order to access such storage for real time audio playback using an MP3 player, the data stored in the memory device of a conventional palmtop must be converted to a serial format to be transferred through the processor to the serial connector of the palmtop before being played back by such a sled based MP3 player. This is cumbersome and taxing on battery life and processing power of the palmtop computer. Nonetheless, such an arrangement would have advantages since the MP3 player or other sled-based device could theoretically use the palmtop computer as a user interface and could use an existing memory interface to store music or other relevant data.
Unfortunately, the above listed drawbacks may be prohibitive in implementing such an arrangement. Thus, the cost of such sled accessories may suffer by needing to supply an additional connector to support its own memory for storing data (e.g. MP3 music) or personality programs.